QC wants fault-line residents relocated

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has urged the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to make a priority the relocation of city residents whose houses are built in areas sliced by the West Valley Fault.

It is feared that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake may be caused by movement of the fault, which traverses Metro Manila, any time based on historical data.

Bautista said while he understands that both agencies are giving priority to the relocation of informal settler families occupying waterways, it is also imperative that utmost attention should be given to immediate transfer of the West Valley families to areas away from the fault line.

Already, the mayor had urged the NHA and DILG to start issuing relocation notices to the families, whose houses are within the danger zone along the West Valley Fault, to ensure their safety.

His order for relocation was based on the Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study that warns of a powerful earthquake that may originate from the West Valley Fault.

In 2013, the city identified at least 700 property owners residing within the five meter-wide buffer zone recommended by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Renato Solidum, Phivolcs director, last week said it has been 357 years since the 90-kilometer fault system shifted, reiterating the agency’s warning issued back in 2013.

Solidum added that the intense ground-shaking, which can reach up to Intensity 8, to be generated by the fault’s movement will damage buildings that may lead to loss of lives.

The city government has discouraged construction of structures within the 5 meter-wide buffer zone on both sides of the fault, which runs along the periphery of the city through the eastern boundary.